Bromo and Ijen in Three Days, Ending at the Ketapang Ferry

Two volcanoes, three days, and an early alarm on each of them. Bromo gives you a grey moonlike plain. Ijen gives you the most acidic lake in the world, green-blue, and the blue fire that only exists in the dark. Night one is at Cemara Lawang, in the Cafe Lava hotel or similar, close enough to the park entrance to walk around the village: the Hindu Tengger area, the market, coffee in somebody's house, the fields. Night two is in Bondowoso, at the Ijen View Hotel. The Bromo morning starts at 3:30, with a 45-minute jeep run to the King Kong viewpoint at 2,600 metres. Bring a jacket and long trousers, because it is cold up there. After sunrise the jeep drops into the sea of sand, and the walk to the crater rim takes another 45 minutes. Ijen is a midnight departure and a two-hour drive to Paltuding, where the local guide hands out gas masks. Two things worth reading twice: blue fire is not lava, it is volcanic gas reacting with air, and going down into the crater is dangerous. That part is for people in good physical condition and it is done at your own risk. The sulphur miners work from early morning until around noon. What is not included matters here. Lunches and dinners are not, nor the horses at Bromo, nor personal expenses. An English-speaking guide is added only if you are four or more. The tour ends at Ketapang harbour, with the ferry to Bali in front of you; going back to Surabaya instead costs USD 25.